What's Happening in Space Policy February 20-24, 2017

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of February 20-24, 2017 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in recess this week.

During the Week

The week begins with a Federal holiday on Monday, Presidents’ Day — combining recognition of the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and George Washington (February 22).   The House and Senate are taking the entire week off from their Washington duties and will work in their States and districts instead.  Just before it left, the Senate passed the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017.  The House could take it up anytime once it returns.

While things will be relatively quiet in Washington, there’s a lot happening in Earth orbit.

SpaceX launched its 10th operational cargo mission (SpaceX CRS-10 or SpX-10) to the International Space Station (ISS) today on the second try (the first attempt was scrubbed on Saturday for technical reasons).  The Dragon spacecraft, full of 5,489 pounds of supplies and equipment, will arrive at the ISS on Wednesday morning about 6:00 am ET.  NASA TV will cover the arrival as astronauts use the robotic Canadarm2 to reach out and grab it so it can be attached (berthed) to a docking port.  NASA TV coverage begins at 4:30 am ET.

Russia is also launching a cargo ship to ISS this week.  The launch of Progress MS-05 is very early Wednesday morning Eastern Standard Time (12:58 am), with docking on Friday (NASA TV will cover both).  This is the first Progress launch since a December 1, 2016 launch failure.  A lot is riding on it, and not just the cargo.  Russia uses the same type of rocket to send crews to ISS so this launch needs to demonstrate that the problems have been fixed so crew launches can resume.

Meanwhile, NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) will meet at Kennedy Space Center in public session on Thursday.   The agenda includes updates on NASA’s development of Exploration Systems (SLS, Orion and associated ground systems), commercial crew, and the iSS.  One can listen to the meeting via telecon (no WebEx though).  ASAP’s most recent annual report expressed both praise and concern about safety at NASA.  NASA’s announcement last week that it is assessing whether to put a crew on the first flight of the Space Launch System might provoke discussion, too.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are shown below.  Check back throughout the week for others that we learn about later and add to our Events of Interest list.

Monday, February 20

• Federal holiday (Presidents’ Day)

Wednesday, February 22

• Progress MS-05 launch, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, 12:58 am Eastern Standard Time (11:58 am local time at the launch site)  Watch on NASA TV
• SpaceX CRS-10 Arrival at ISS, Earth orbit, approximately 6:00 am EST (Watch on NASA TV)

Wednesday-Thursday, February 22-23

• NASA Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), Atlanta, GA

Thursday, February 23

• NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), Kennedy Space Center, FL, 2:15 – 3:45 pm ET (listen via telecon)

Friday, February 24

• Progress MS-05 Arrival at ISS, 3:34 am ET (watch on NASA TV)